Felix Elie Tobeen | Cubist painter

Tobeen is the pseudonym of the French artist Félix Bonnet (1880-1938).

Tobeen stayed frequently in the western part of thé Pyrenees, Basque Country, but was born and bred in Bordeaux.

Because of his frequent reference to Basque subjects within his paintings he became known as a Basque artist. However, he was not a Basque and neither were his parents.

From 1910 he worked in Paris where he maintained relations with the group of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque and with the group of the Duchamp brothers (Gaston, Raymond and Marcel) in Puteaux.

He exhibited eleven works at the Salon de la Section d'Or, Galerie La Boétie, Paris, October 1912.

But Tobeen was not a city-dweller.

He loved a life of liberty, the sea, the woods and after 1920 he settled in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.

Tobeen's paintings, drawings and woodcarvings show the traces of his Parisian period and his passion for the poetry in human life. | © Wikipedia

Félix Elie Bonnet, detto Tobeen, (Bordeaux, 20 luglio 1880 - Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, 14 marzo 1938), è stato un pittore Francese.

Tobeen visse a lungo nei Paesi Baschi, periodo che gli servì come ispirazione per molti dei suoi dipinti.

A partire dal 1910 lavorò a Parigi, dove entrò in contatto con i pittori Pablo Picasso e Georges Braque e con i fratelli Duchamp (Gaston, Raymond et Marcel) a Puteaux, gli artisti dell'esposizione Section d'Or, dove nel 1912 presenterà ben 11 opere.

Ma Tobeen non era un cittadino.

Amava infatti la vita libera, il mare, i boschi e dopo il suo periodo parigino decise di stabilirsi a Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.

I quadri, i disegni e le incisioni su legno di Tobeen mostrano indelebili le tracce del suo periodo basco così come quello Parigino, oltre che la sua passione per la poesia della vita quotidiana. | © Wikipedia